Padres Week 3: Rough Weekend @ The $9 buck cup

Three weeks down and the Padres are sitting 2 above .500---2 1/2 behind LA. It could be worse. The disappointing news is in that we were swept by the Giants (only a 2 game set) and then dropped a series to the Pirates at home.....our pitcher's park....where Jake Peavy can't seem to....well, pitch! The Padres are over .500 and Jake is under .500 (2-3).

While the team is beginning to come back to earth they still exhibit elements of entertaining baseball whether it be the fundamentals (moving runners over, backing up positions), hustle (see David Eckstein), sound hitting (Adrian Gonzalez crushed one like no other ever hit at The Bark, yesterday) or the youth movement (Headley, Hundley,--insert bullpen pitcher here--, the injured Evereth Cabrera). Those are all positive things and when coupled with good prices they are reasons to stay on the bandwagon.

More interesting Padre bits and pieces:

• Geoff Young looking at the last week and the overuse of a certain pitch by a certain pitcher, in his column Eight Sliders Sliding [Ducksnorts]

• Padre Unis....after all, a Friar does wear a brown robe not Blue [The Sacrifice Bunt]

• A struggling Peavy and yesterday's debacle against the Pirates [San Diego UT]

• A podcast by Craig Elsten and Chris Ello regarding the Padres "surging" (tongue-in-cheek) to a power ranking of #10 in MLB [619 Sports]

Three game set against the Rockies gets going at 5;40 pm today.....Chris Young must right the ship.

The Heath Bell Effect

Below you'll find the Heath Bell Effect. What's that you say? It's what happens when he pitches and then opens his mouth: Padres win, people start talking.

After Bell saved game #1 in Citi Field's history he proceeded to bash ESPN's Baseball Tonight for never featuring the Padres and never even mentioning SD in the build-up to the Mets' opening night. Fair enough....we know that on the West Coast we play second fiddle. So I shall propose two things to you, San Diego Sports fan:

1. Check out the time-line below.....it is the chronology of The Heath Bell Effect.
2. After reading the chronology (and listening if you have the time) follow Heath Bell's lead and make a little noise....I have a suggestion.
   

April 14th: Heath Bell dogged ESPN in an interview with Scott & BR on Tuesday morning:
[XX1090-Audio]

April 16th: HB then went on Baseball Tonight and spoke with Karl Ravech:

Click:[ESPN Video Link]

April 17th: The following afternoon Baseball Tonight's Tim Kurkjian spoke with Darren Smith:

[XX1090-Audio]

April 17th: Miami radio personality Sid Rosenberg (a native New Yorker and Met Fan) and Scott & BR regular hooked up to talk about a few things...the last of which was a brief commentary on the Padres where he bashed them mercilessly!
[XX1090-Audio]

April 19th: Bell's remarks ring true about almighty ESPN
[Union Tribune-Nick Canepa]

That folks, is the Heath Bell Effect:

1. Heath Saves Games:
2. Heath Drops Mad Quotes:
3. People Start Talking About Heath....And The Padres.
   

This folks, is my proposal:

1. Let's E-mail Scott & BR's regular Radio Active guest: Sidney Arthur Rosenberg
   

Listening to that guy Rosenberg reminded me of Bleacher Bum Jordan (if you added a brain). Brash, loud, opinionated and completely New York-East Coast-Centric. He came off as an extension of the ESPN bias that Heath Bell justly attacked earlier in the week....so let us join Heath Bell in appealing to Common Sense......here's Sid Rosenberg's email address:

sidsback2001@yahoo.com

Dear Sid:
We ruined your opening night and took the series from you....we know, we know...we listened to your interview with Scott & BR---"The Mets didn't take the series seriously"---"The Padres are an awful baseball team"---"We only have two players, and some guy named Headly who gets lucky every once in a while"---"And when the season's over the Padres will be where they belong...in last place".

Well let's look at last year: The (last place) Padres took 5 of 7 from the Mets and the Phillies won the East by 3 games....do the math and chew on that Mighty New York Fan. Your overpriced team will likely cave again and we'll just keep on battling....see you on August 8th!

For those of you who are the regular rebel-rousing-Thomas Paine-types but lack the time required of a full-time insurrectionist: feel free to copy & paste the above gibberish. Or get creative as you keep in mind that the national information outlets think San Diego and its fans are a joke....so you don't have to be nice.

How many e-mails can we inundate ol' Sidney Arthur Rosenberg with?

Editor's Note: It appears that there is another component to The Heath Bell Effect......when someone else tries to close a game......it's kind of ugly. Well, you can't win 'em all. A great week had by both the Padres and....Dodgers.

It makes perfect sense

Doesn't it make perfect season? When it comes time for a streak of 54 consecutive saves to end just call the 2009 edition of the San Diego Padres. Close to handing a lead to Heath Bell the pen coughs up the lead forcing the Padres to face Brad Lidge down a run.....the Brad Lidge who was PERFECT last year! No Problem.....



.....they faced him on Friday Night and did all right. Enter Jody Gerut and his lead-off double....

The final score will read Padres 8 Phillies 5.......people will note that Lidge blew his first save as a Phillie when Kevin Kouzmanoff touched him up for a 3-run bomb in the Citizen's Bank Bandbox....and then Heath Bell came on for his seventh save in 12 games. But make no mistake about when the defining moment of the game occurred: with Gerut at 2B and zero out in the 9th, David Eckstein came to the plate, and did what winners do.....put the ball in play....hit it hard.....and hit it to the right side of the diamond to advance the runner. Gerut would tie the game one hitter later when Brian Giles grounded to Ryan Howard.

Do you remember Opening Day against the Dodgers? Everyone was overjoyed with the Eckstein bunt in the 1st which would help cut the Dodger lead in half. Now we have the 9th inning ground out against Brad Lidge. Jody Gerut would have died at 2B in '08.....ya gotta love the little things!

Padres pound Lidge, top Phils [philly.com]

What a blast! Padres rally again to sink Phillies 8-5 [San Diego UT]

(Just saw the ESPN highlights.....showed the Gerut Double and the Giles ground out but nothing in between. It's alright Eck! We got your back!)

Harry Kalas and a game 1 win in Philly

Make that all "Phans" everywhere, Eric

We were curious whether or not the Philadelphia papers would be chastising their team for losing to the "lowly" team from San Diego.....they weren't.....the night in Philadelphia was more about the passing of announcer Harry Kalas. Whether it was hearing Kalas' voice on NFL Films or This Week In Baseball it was always a treat....what a great voice. Sounds like he was a pretty great guy too.

-Phils honor Kalas but lose game [philly.com]
-Harry Kalas Dies [philly.com].....linked stories
-Phillies fans honor broadcaster Kalas [San Diego UT]

In searching for disparaging remarks about "our Boys" we did find a funny headline regarding a Phillies prospect:

Prospect Bastardo adds to Phillies' bounty of left handers

...and how do you call someone a bastard in Spanish? We believe this is a prime example of a Spanish cognate........well he's made it this far so continued good luck Antonio.

Editor's note:
What a great win tonight! Down 7-1 to a powerful Phillies line-up only to battle back and TAKE the victory. Awesome! We love the emotion exhibited......the fist pumping and chest bumping after the Headly assist at home in the 8th......the Heath Bell fire on the mound after his 6th save. Good stuff guys...keep at it!

Eckstein's Poll and the Ubiquitous #42

I'm not sure if this UT poll speaks to Padre indifference (only 956 votes cast) or spiking illiteracy rates amongst Americans......but boy I couldn't agree more with the consensus choice for most impressive FNG. David Eckstein brings his lunch pail to work each day and as a fan that's something I can hang my hat on (hopefully the mix of metaphors does not obscure my Eckstein endorsement).

Editor's Note:
That #42 sure was everywhere on Wednesday night. Here's something I get but don't get.....the Mets exist because the Brooklyn Dodgers opted to relocate to LA rather than move to Flushing NY.....but why are the Mets honoring Jackie Robinson with a Rotunda named after him? He was never a part of the Met organization? Shouldn't the Dodgers have exclusive rights to using his name......awww......screw the Dodgers!

Did you notice the funny hat worn by Adrian Gonzalez while in NY? Yes, the ear warmer piece! You're not the only one to take note...
Adrian Gonzalez's Inexcusably Ridiculous Cap Accessory
[The Legend of Cecilio Guante]

The good AIC served as content editor for Cecilio's Scribe on this little Citi Field report......Keep bloggin' Scribe....just don't dismiss Adrian, he's about all we got!